Flexible Countertop Templating Material

With plastic material you can roll up after the template is built, transporting the template is easier. September 30, 2009

QuestionCurrently we use the old standby 1/4" luan strip to build our templates, which often means our truck has to go on site to bring it back. I've heard of some plastic material that some use (strips or sheets). After it's done, you roll it up and bring back in a car. Does anyone know where I can get more info on this product?

Forum Responses(Laminate and Solid Surface Forum)
From contributor L:Are you talking about plastic laminate? I suppose you can roll that up and pack it in your car?

From the original questioner:No, I believe it's a white polystyrene. I haven't seen it but I have heard of two methods, one being corrugated strips, the other being a whole sheet. The luan strips work well but they can be fragile and transporting them usually means sending our truck out to do the template, so something that can be safely rolled and transported in a salesman's car would be better.
From contributor G:I think we use what you are talking about, a semi-transparent plastic sheet for templating. We've only used it a couple of times and we get it through a granite fabricator (they use it to template for their granite). It's a sheet about 40" X 96".
From contributor D:I get mine at affinitysurfaces.com. It comes in sheets 26" x 120" you can make solid templates or cut into strips, and hot glue works great!
From contributor K:A guy showed me a system he has a franchise on. You go to the job with a digital camera and about a dozen stickers similar to the crosshair ones used on crash test dummies and you stick them to the walls in the area you are surveying. You then photograph the area from a few different angles and when you download the photos to a special programme the computer gives you a real time measurement of the room down to a fraction of a degree. You can then output to NC and get a perfect fitting top. He said the package was about €10k.
From contributor M:The strips I think you are talking about are called TemplatePro. They are thin plastic strips 2 1/4" x 96". Use them just as luan and glue together with PVC cement, then you can roll the whole thing up. We got one of these kits for free from our supplier and used it, but I would not buy it. Think it was around $60 for the box of strips and a container of cement. We use Templast material 1/4" thick corrugated plastic sheets. They come 28" X 120" or 4' x 8', about $8 a sheet. We like them because they are easy to cut, you can write your notes on them, they fold, and when you install the top, you can put the template back on to protect the top.

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